Voluntary guardianship: what are the conditions?

Voluntary guardianship: what are the conditions?

"In view of his disastrous way of managing his administrative obligations, my uncle wishes to submit to voluntary guardianship. Can you tell me under what conditions he could benefit from this measure?"

Cédric

Article 390 of the Civil Code authorises voluntary guardianship at the request of the person concerned or his or her close relatives, provided that the two conditions for guardianship are met: there must be a cause for guardianship, i.e. an objective state of weakness, and a condition for guardianship, i.e. a particular need for protection.

A case of curatorship arises when a person of full age is partially or totally prevented from safeguarding his or her own interests due to a state of weakness that affects his or her personal condition; these two concerns must both be met to justify the pronouncement of a measure.

According to the case law, extraordinary negligence in the administration of one's assets, which has its subjective cause in the weakness of the person's intelligence or will, constitutes a case of curatorship. However, mismanagement should not be accepted only when existing assets are administered in a senseless and incomprehensible manner. On the other hand, mismanagement may be deemed to have occurred in relation to the way in which a person earns a living. A person must therefore also be placed under guardianship if, through lack of energy, carelessness or similar reasons, he or she fails to obtain the necessary means of subsistence. Similarly, anyone who, through his or her own fault, is unable to earn a sufficient income or who spends his or her income in an economically unreasonable manner, for example by failing to meet strictly necessary expenses and squandering his or her assets, is guilty of mismanagement. The importance of the matters to be dealt with is not in itself decisive for the institution of curatorship, but will play a role in the type of curatorship chosen and the tasks entrusted to the curator.

In Geneva, the authority you can contact is the Court for the Protection of Adults and Children, located at rue des Glacis-de-Rive 4-6. The system changed on 1 January 2013, when the new law on adult protection came into force. Until that date, the competent authority was the Guardianship Court, but the term "guardianship" is no longer part of the legal vocabulary, as it was deemed too stigmatising by the legislator.

Finally, you or your uncle may at any time request that this measure be lifted if it is no longer justified by the circumstances.